Exploring My Tandy 1000 SX... With an Accelerator Card and 20MB Bernoulli Drive!

[@airfixer9461]

Hey Chris, great video..nice to see you back again with vintage stuff videos 🙂

[@RetroTechChris]

Thank you! This is starting to feel a bit like of a reunion since it has been so while since I posted a video on a topic like this! It's great to see all of the fine folks such as yourself leaving comments on the vids... I miss the interaction. Thanks for watching, and it is nice to hear from you!!

[@GarthBeagle]

10:25 hahaa, love how it struggles with Solitare but then Out Run isn't too bad! What a nice setup 😍

[@RetroTechChris]

Yea! I think the drivers I am using for Windows 3.0 actually come from Windows 2.0, so they probably aren't optimized. But yea it is pretty terrible!

[@TofersCarTales]

This was great. My first PC was a Tandy 1000 SX with dual floppy drives and the full 640k. I was so proud of my 12 year old self when I managed to install a bus mouse.

[@RetroTechChris]

Hey! Great seeing you here, this is a true honor! Glad you enjoyed the video. And of course I love your vids!

[@TofersCarTales]

@@RetroTechChris Thanks so much! Keep up the amazing work!

[@spladam3845]

I'm impressed with the good condition of everything here. This was my childhood PC, the computer that made me love computers. We had an SX with two 360k floppies, TWO 20MB HDD, and a Game Blaster. Flightmare uses the same sound effects as Paratrooper, exact same, but different dev.

[@RetroTechChris]

Very cool! Yea, it was my first childhood PC with a color monitor! So glad to have one again!!

[@Pickle136]

my local pc meetup had a tandy booth and i was surpised how kings quest looked. Thats a nice monitor to have. Also i like the tandy sound.

[@RetroTechChris]

Oh yeah! My only regret with that CM-11 monitor is that I only have one of them for my three Tandys!

[@djpaterson]

Hi Chris, hope you're doing well. Great to see new content from you! 😀

[@RetroTechChris]

Thank you!! I'm hanging in there, but aren't we all! 🤣

[@johnstory4807]

Beautiful example of a Tandy 1000 SX. 😊

[@RetroTechChris]

Thank you!!

[@idahofur]

Oh look at that drive. Very nice.

[@RetroTechChris]

Oh yeah! It gave me a lot of trouble, but I'm glad to have it working! It really sounds like a Zip drive!!

[@idahofur]

@@RetroTechChris I know about media. Years ago I purchased a new external zip drive. Then when all the media and holders started showing up in thrift stores. I purchased it all. I know how a good pile of media and zip disk holders.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@idahofur that's fantastic!

[@Leahi84]

Glad to finally have a new video from you! Hope you've been well.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@Leahi84 hey there! Thank you! Great to hear from you.

[@franciscom.e.9780]

Happy to see you again!

[@RetroTechChris]

@@franciscom.e.9780 thank you!!

[@SHO1989]

So many memories. I had a Tandy 1000 back in the early 90s and I wanted a bernoulli drive so badly but it was so expensive. Even today, I am kinda jealous you have one!😊😊

[@RetroTechChris]

@@SHO1989 it's a neat little device!

[@TJBChris]

Fantastic video! Thanks for doing the walk through and documenting the saga...the struggle is real. The performance boost from the 286accelerator was pretty impressive as well. The 1000 SX is a classic!

[@RetroTechChris]

@@TJBChris hey there! Thank you!! Yea, this was a fun one to put together.

[@gstcomputing65]

I have a Tandy 1000 HX and TX. The HX is a sentimental favorite because it was the first PC compatible I ever used. However, the TX is so fast with its 286 and CF reader. The previous owner even add a 287 co-processor, although I doubt I've ran any software that actually utilizes it. TL;DR - Love the video, Chris!!

[@RetroTechChris]

@@gstcomputing65 I do too, those are my other Tandys! There are some videos on them on the channel too! Thank you for your kind words and thanks for watching!

[@esseferio]

Your videos are always a treat! Merci !

[@RetroTechChris]

Thank you! It was your very kind comment on X the other day that pushed me to make this, so thank you for that!!

[@esseferio]

@@RetroTechChris haha, then I'm glad I made it, for the rest of us :) (I hope this wasn't too much trouble).Much appreciated mon ami.

[@Svein-Frode]

Great video Chris! What a beautiful Tandy to have! Really enjoyed that Bernoulli drive stuff too. Never heard about that format before.

[@RetroTechChris]

Thank you! Yea, I had only heard about Bernoulli drives prior to getting this Tandy, had never used one! They really do have a lot of similarities with Zip drives!

[@frodojedi]

Great to see a new video ❤

[@RetroTechChris]

Haha, thank you! Yea, it's been a while!

[@frodojedi]

@@RetroTechChris Life happens! Still excited to see a new video though. I need to get the power supply in my 1000sx repaired now lol

[@RetroTechChris]

@@frodojedi Oh yeah! And I hear the PicoMem works in the Tandy 1000 now too 😃

[@freddyvretrozone2849]

​@@RetroTechChrisI can publish a test/not official firmware if you want to test

[@RetroTechChris]

@@freddyvretrozone2849 I would love to!

[@NYCamper62]

This brings back memories. My 1st pc was a 1000sx, believe it had a co processor, expanded memory, 30mb hd card, both size floppy drives, 9600 modem, cga monitor, 9 pin dot matrix printer. Deskmate II software - ha.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@NYCamper62 you had the works!! I love it!

[@RetroTechy]

Awesome! so happy you're back making weekly videos :P

[@RetroTechChris]

Haha! Weekly? Hmm.. we will see about that 😆

[@janpedersen9120]

love your videos Chris, even so i dont watch them all, you have a lot of nice told videos about networking and software where my passion lives :) keep it up sir ..

[@RetroTechChris]

@@janpedersen9120 haha, thank you!

[@RacerX-]

Awesome to see you doing another video! Super nice Tandy. I never used the Bernoulli drives they look cool. I always ended up with SyQuest drives.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@RacerX- thank you! It's great to hear from you!!

[@BollingHolt]

Most excellent, indeed. 😎

[@RetroTechChris]

@@BollingHolt thank you! And thanks for giving it a pre watch, that helped a lot!

[@cocusar]

hey Chris!! awesome to have you back with this awesome video. cheers man!

[@RetroTechChris]

@@cocusar haha, thank you! I felt that I owed everyone a video, it's been a while 😅

[@cocusar]

@@RetroTechChris you don't owe us anything, don't feel pressed to do videos! however, septandy is always a good excuse to upload something!

[@jeroenklaassen4078]

cool computer ! and great to see new videos :)

[@RetroTechChris]

@@jeroenklaassen4078 thank you!

[@dave4shmups]

Great video, and it’s great to see you back on KZbin Chris!

[@RetroTechChris]

Hey there! Thank you!! I really appreciate it. Yea, trying to drop a video from time to time. LOL!

[@Zion767318]

Greetings Chris, great video for SEPTandy 2024. 👍👍 Next month I'm going to give my SX a few upgrades, like an NEC v20 Co-processor (NOS), a 2MB EMS Card for a little extra performance, an I/O Card for more options, a No-Slot Clock (RTC) and an XT-IDE to SD (512MB) for my HDD needs as the HardCard in mine fails to read. I can't wait to get it upgraded and be able to start using it more regularly. I'm going for more of an enhanced 1000sx versus an Ultimate SX of sorts, possibly how Tandy themselves may have done it back in the day, minus SD for storage as that wasn't a thing back then. 😀👍👍

[@RetroTechChris]

@@Zion767318 oh, fantastic! Yours is going to be supercharged 😂. What a great project!

[@Zion767318]

@@RetroTechChris I have a CM-5 monitor that I received when I purchased it a while back, I wish I could get a good condition CM-11 though.

[@Zion767318]

@@RetroTechChris Quick question, where did you source the Midi Cable for extending the keyboard?

[@RetroTechChris]

@@Zion767318 Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09L5R1QXV

[@Zion767318]

@@RetroTechChris I looked over the video where you briefly showed it off, I wasn't paying close enough attention during that part. Thank you for the quick reply. If I have any issues with getting everything setup, then I hope you won't mind me asking questions. 😀👍👍

[@SuperMoleRetro]

Hi Chris. Neat machine, love Tandy's. Did not see you at VCFMW this year? Were you there and I missed you? I noticed OUTRUN has KSHE 95 (94.7) displayed on their tuner dial :)

[@RetroTechChris]

Hey there! Sadly, had to miss this year for health reasons. But hoping to be there next year!

[@freddyvretrozone2849]

Oh yes it is septembre. I have an sx that was never powered on when I got it 😉 It had plastic protection on connectors and the cardboard in the floppy.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@freddyvretrozone2849 holy cow, that is really cool. PicoMem candidate? 😂

[@bbertram2]

Awesome video dude! I had this exact computer growing up, used it for years. I swear I played Kings Quest 5 on it. Maybe I'm dreaming that, lol. Thanks for the video!

[@RetroTechChris]

@@bbertram2 you bet! Yea, Kings Quest with Tandy graphics and sound is pretty awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@procta2343]

Great to here you again! I wonder if this would run windows 1.0 or windows 2.0 better.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@procta2343 hey there! Yea I imagine it would. And great to hear from you too, it's been a little while since we talked last.

[@procta2343]

@@RetroTechChris yeah it has! work has got in the way sadly, these recycle places, do they get pre windows 3.x in? iam after windows 1.0 boxed

[@RetroTechChris]

@@procta2343 not sure! If you see it in one of their auction listings, we will find a way to get it to you. Just let me know!

[@procta2343]

@@RetroTechChris thanks pal, i will keep my eyes peeled,

[@brentgreeff1115]

Awesome! - Amazing setup. - Tandy is at the very top of my list, above any computer or console, but I never owned one. - As a child I played Larry on my moms work computer - which was an IBM but I have totally fallen in love with the CGA mode to a SD TV. My dream is to do some classic Point & Clicking from the couch on my Sony 34" - One thing I havent seen yet is a Tandy plugged into a MT-32. Whats the ideal Tandy for maniac mansion + all those Sierra games? Seems you have the best of both world with the ability to toggle the CPU.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@brentgreeff1115 yea, it's a sweet setup. Yea perhaps an MT-32 would add to it.. I've never used one!

[@brentgreeff1115]

@@RetroTechChris - The 3 voice did sounds pretty good in your vid though.

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

Great machine, congrats mate! 👌

[@RetroTechChris]

@@Cybernetic_Systems thank you! And thanks for the SmartWatch+, it's working great!!

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

@@RetroTechChris awesome! The SmartWatch function was interesting, have you tried SLCLK in 286 mode? I need to use that in my TL2. Edit: It might have been RDClock.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@Cybernetic_Systems I should give that a try!

[@Siskiyous6]

My first PC. I added a 40mb hard drive and a 286 card.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@Siskiyous6 oh, very cool! My 1000 TX has a hard drive card in it. There is a video on it on my channel somewhere!

[@astroverbotjulia9004]

Very nice video, what was the dot matrix printer you used? (I'm looking for one for my 8088. You are right the floppy drive makes a very specific sound

[@RetroTechChris]

@@astroverbotjulia9004 howdy! It's a Panasonic KX-P2123. Sadly color ribbons are no longer being manufactured though. Here's a past video I made on the printer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5fZd5-ng7mImJYsi=Rp_9NBHWJZlnimOl

[@TalesofWeirdStuff]

Do you know if that Iomega SCSI card is bootable? I see that it has a ROM on it, so it might be possible. You might also want to try the VGM player that I recently released for Tandy 1000. I mostly tested it on a vanilla Tandy 1000 HX.

[@RetroTechChris]

@@TalesofWeirdStuff I believe it is!

[@neomatrix4412]

is tx better ?

[@RetroTechChris]

@@neomatrix4412 the TX is an 8 MHz 80286, so yea natively better than the SX if you want a faster machine.

[@neomatrix4412]

@@RetroTechChris how about the tl/2?

[@RetroTechChris]

@@neomatrix4412 never owned one, so not sure! Probably 286 based and newer than the TX/SX?

[@neomatrix4412]

@@RetroTechChris tga2 high resolution 16 color

[@Chriva]

"Hey y'all* :D

[@RetroTechChris]

Close! "Hi all" 😁

[@Chriva]

@@RetroTechChris I've been saying it wrong for how many years now? I suck 😂

[@RetroTechChris]

@@Chriva haha, no, you are great!! I always enjoy our interactions here and on X!

[@msdosm4nfred]

BUT CAN IT RUN CRYSIS? 😂

[@RetroTechChris]

But of course! 🤣